Still Trying to Portray Trump as an LGBT Advocate? Here Are Some Facts

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Advocate.com

by: Jeremy Hooper

After the transgender protections were rescinded by this administration, we know it is complicit in placing LGBTQ youth in harm’s way. But are the rights of other LGBTQ individuals and families also in jeopardy? After President Trump’s recent joint session speech, we need to remember that actions speak louder than words. There are 24 offices within the Trump administration that are designated as Cabinet or Cabinet-level. Of the people filling those 24, 11 come from elected offices. Of those 11 figures who come from elected life, all — every last one of them — has a decisive, sweeping, nearly unbroken record of anti-LGBTQ votes and/or executive actions.

Let’s start with the top: Vice President Mike Pence. As a member of Congress from 2001 to 2013, Pence voted against every single piece of pro-LGBTQ legislation to come before him and in favor of the harshest anti-LGBTQ bills to cross his desk. Then, as governor of the state of Indiana, Pence made national headlines for his support of religious-based discrimination against LGBTQ customers seeking goods and services. In both of his elected roles, Pence staked the ground of a socially conservative warrior, and his well-documented record of animosity toward LGBTQ people is among the 21st century’s most extensive.

Then there’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions. As U.S. senator, Sessions championed nasty pieces of legislation like the Federal Marriage Amendment and voted against anything that would be positive for LGBTQ people, including federal hate-crimes law and the repeal of the military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In later years, he cosponsored legislation like the so-called State Marriage Defense Act and the still-active First Amendment Defense Act, both of which social conservatives prop up as ways to get around the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling. Like Pence, Sessions seemed to make pleasing Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council his number 1 legislative priority.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, President Trump’s pick for Energy secretary, was known throughout the aughts as one of the nation’s most anti-LGBTQ governors. He signed multiple laws that banned same-sex marriage in varying ways and used his bully pulpit to condemn LGBTQ people. When he pivoted toward running for president, one of his first campaign ads condemned the then-recent repeal of DADT. That’s what you get when you choose a Cabinet member who has directly compared gay people to alcoholics.

Moving on to Tom Price, Health and Human Services secretary: While a lesser-known name before his Cabinet selection, Price made a lot of noise on LGBTQ rights during his 12 years in the U.S. House. Price voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and DADT repeal, and he voted for the heinous Federal Marriage Amendment. When he voted against the federal hate-crimes bill, he insisted that the eventual passage of the legislation was “an absolute disgrace.” He also insisted that the federal guidance on transgender students’ bathroom access was “absurd” — the very guidance that AG Sessions has now dismantled.

Ryan Zinke is another who was not well-known before being chosen as Interior secretary. While he took very few substantive votes on LGBTQ rights during his two years in the U.S. House, he did sign on as the cosponsor of legislation that did nothing more — nothing more — than state disagreement with the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling.

Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, began voting against LGBTQ rights even before he got to the federal level, cosponsoring his state’s marriage ban while serving in the South Carolina Senate. After joining the U.S. House in 2011, Mulvaney went on to score a 0 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard for all three of his completed terms, in dishonor of his unwaveringly hostile voting pattern.

Before President Trump chose Sonny Perdue to become secretary of Agriculture, Perdue served as Georgia’s governor from 2003 to 2011. In this role, Perdue proudly signed the state’s marriage ban into law. Years later, when court action threatened to dismantle the discriminatory law, Perdue threatened to pass another amendment, should the side of equality prevail in court.